Real Success Secrets, Pt. 2 – Kevin Hogan 4*

Perhaps the least understood elements of success are those of concentrated focus and momentum.

Concentrated focus is the FOUR DIMENSIONAL act of placing your attention on a person or project at all levels, through time, and with the full support and drive of those around you.

Success happens through time.

Successful people get stuff done today while realizing that tomorrow builds on today and the next day builds on tomorrow. For example, when writing a book, no real author thinks she’s an author because she writes 500 words per day. That’s ludicrous. You research today.

Tomorrow, you write 3000 words. Tuesday, you put together your marketing plan. Wednesday, you write 3000 words. Thursday, you write another 2000 words and put together a list of podcasts and radio shows that make sense to appear on, then contact the producers and hosts. Friday, you write another 2500 words. Saturday, you write a BIG 5000 word article based on your book that will be offered to online and real world magazines and papers. Sunday, you write another 2500 words for the book. Monday, you do research the entire day. Tuesday, you put together title and subtitle ideas. Each week, you’re dedicating time to writing, promotion, marketing and prep for selling.

Once the book itself is done, you dedicate time each and every day to rewrites, editing, promotion and prep for selling. Marketing without selling probably isn’t going to cut it. Selling without marketing … probably not going to work. All successful people are focused on all aspects of a project from Day One, until you have sold the number of copies you want to have sold.

THAT is how successful people think and behave.

Concentrated Focus is a critical core factor in Real Success.

Imagine you are a (let’s say … high school) football coach. You have to get the best possible players who have the drive and skill to play. Then, you need to weed out those incapable of playing cooperatively. Then your players, your team’s offensive, special teams, and defensive schemes. Next, you update your players on all of the rules and rule changes that will be relevant to them. Then each week, you teach them the schemes of other team’s offenses and defenses. Next up, you set up expectations and responses to whether those expectations are met. Next you set up your practice regimens, routines and drill strategy. You run your players through their daily drills and deal with the standard (late for practice, didn’t show, didn’t put the full effort in) problems that happen to most coaches.

This is, of course, just a sampling of the big projects any coach has to do. And he has to be good at pretty much all of these things.

I recently overheard a conversation about the notion of eliminating multitasking.

Good luck with that in the real world.

In the real world, the successful, are MEGA-multitasking.

You create and organize structures of completing major and minor tasks that all run contemporaneously on various parts of the football field and back in the locker room.

They have to be measured by the talent and skills of their team in contrast to the skills and talents of players on the other teams then see what added value they can add to cause 1 + 1 = 3 or 1 + 1 = 11

The same is true with the teams and groups you work with.

Your family or the people you live with are one group.

The people you work with at the office is another.

In your immediate world, it’s rare that two family members become seriously motivated at the same time. Because that is the most common situation, you prepare for that in a simple critical fashion.

Concentrated Focus means that you have someone else do the dishes this spring. You have someone else do the cooking this spring. You have someone else take the car in for an oil change this spring. All of your attention goes toward what no one else around you can do.

And this works best when there is drive, intention and purpose FROM those around you. They have to essentially DEMAND that you concentrate your efforts through time.

The alternative is, of course, for you keep doing what you are doing in life for yet another year …after year … until you have someone giving your eulogy.

The familiarity of “one more year” eventually runs into, “OMG we are not prepared for this …”